David Carson is spurred on by Inverness Caley Thistle play-off agony
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Caley Thistle’s David Carson says he will be using the heartache of last season’s play-off final as motivation this season ahead of their Championship opener against Queen’s Park.
Inverness begin with home advantage against the newly-promoted side knowing they will be one of the teams expected to challenge for promotion.
Carson looks back on last season’s run as a “close, but not close enough” situation, so he is desperate to ensure there is no repeat of that this time around.
“It would be massive to start with a win,” he said.
“Obviously going off the back of last season, myself and I’m sure the rest of the boys were hurting from that.
“I was hurting, and it took me a few days for that to sink in and adjust.
“I was devastated for the fans, the club and the boys that had put in the effort through the season as well. It’s something that we’ll use going forward.
“We want to make sure that we start off right, because we were close, but not close enough to actually go up.
“Personally, I’m chomping at the bit to get going and I just want to start off with a win which will bring back that buzz for the dressing room.”
One hallmark of ICT’s success at the tail end of last season was the backing they received from fans, and Carson believes that level of support will be crucial again this year.
“For the League Cup games we only had one stand open, so that was quite different,” he added.
“I’m hoping on Saturday that the fans come out in their numbers like they did at the back end of last season.
“They’re like a 12th man to us, the noise that they brought towards the end of last season was brilliant.
“It was respected by the players, so I hope they come out in their numbers and we put on a performance on Saturday to attract as many of them as we can.”
